Hmm, I am having a slightly different issue. I've done the whole Handcent install, notification cancellation thing and my phone now hovers around 10 - 15% up time which is awesome. Problem is my battery life is still not great. I thought I would notice a big change in battery life or at least something noticeable but no, it seems exactly the same as it was.
That said, I'll be keeping Handcent as it is a sweet little program.
Hmm, I am having a slightly different issue. I've done the whole Handcent install, notification cancellation thing and my phone now hovers around 10 - 15% up time which is awesome. Problem is my battery life is still not great. I thought I would notice a big change in battery life or at least something noticeable but no, it seems exactly the same as it was.
That said, I'll be keeping Handcent as it is a sweet little program.
sometimes it takes lithium-Ion batteries a while to caliberate...
Remember to practice good charges cycles by never letting your phones battery charge dip below 20% (as much as possible at least)
alot of people think its better to discharge fully and recharge
This is Misinformation. The NIMH batteries and Nickel-Cadmium batteries these days. and i frequently hear Customer service reps and sales people tell customers this Misinformation and thus has perpetuated the myth.
Keeping your battery cool also increases its life. The more heat the more damage to the Battery and other parts of the phone. in normal casual use a battery will degrade in 4-24 months depending on how well its charged and how good of care is kept (moisture free, desireable temp.charge cycles,proper chargers.ECT)
Hope this helps you
Well, unfortunately turning off the default messenger and using Handcent, I have not experienced any better battery life even though my phone stays in the 20% awake range throughout the day. By 10am, my phone's battery starts to show significant drainage, even if all I have done on it is send a few txt messages.
It's kind of frustrating that a 1500mAh battery cannot keep my phone charged until at least 6pm with minimal use and background data turned off. Actually, it doesn't matter what I do, it seems. I can have background data on, off, use standard SMS app, use Handcent.... The battery drains exactly the same way every time...
Any other suggestions, or should I just wait for the patch from Sprint/HTC? I hope they have moved up the next patch. My Sprint friend showed me an email that said it wasn't due till Q1 2010... That would suck.
Update: After using the phone in Sprint Only (network) and continuing to use Handcent and not the default SMS application, my phone has had really good battery life. I haven't used it as much (other apps) so I am not quite sure what the reason behind my good battery life is, but I'm digging it!
Thanks again.
Last edited by dcdttu; October 21st, 2009 at 06:16 PM.
I followed the SMS instructions and was still hitting 100% awake time.
I removed Locale and the three plugins for it and now my Hero is sleeping with the screen off.
I kinda thought Locale was too good to be true. I understand that its supposed to detect when the phone enters new locations (maybe with the handset sleeping) but its not worth killing my battery in 4 hours.
I’ll continue to observe my awake time and reinstall Locale at a later date to see if it gets all effed up again.
UPDATE:
This Google.Code thread details a bug in Cupcake's LocationManagerService that can lead to multiple updates per second, extended processor use, and (one would assume) terrible battery longevity. Its sposed to be fixed in Donut.
Ok, so I didn't think this worked (installing handcent, changing the notifications for the default app) UNTIL I read I needed do that AND to reboot, send a msg w/ handcent, then reboot again. After doing all that, my awake time percentage immediately dropped...now at 30%. Thanks for all the help!!
Nothing I do works at all , did everything you mention , followed instructions to the letter , rebooted like 5,000 times it seems , still reads 100 % ???
I kinda thought Locale was too good to be true. I understand that its supposed to detect when the phone enters new locations (maybe with the handset sleeping) but its not worth killing my battery in 4 hours.
I'm using Locale and the Sync plug-in right now and not experiencing any issues, so it may be a combination of Conditions within Locale giving you problems (in fact, it has <1min of wake lock). Either way, hopefully Donut improves overall performance.
Something else I wanted to mention is that if you're still seeing 100% wake time, you might want to install Spare Parts and look around in there. Specifically, Battery History (it take a little while to load), then choose Partial Wake Usage from the first dropdown. That will show you the amount of time an application is running when the phone is supposedly asleep. For example, I have 16min for Mail because I have it's set to autosync. If you see something that has a very large time associated with it (like close to 100% of your up time), that's probably the culprit.
Personally, I'm usually running <15% wake time using Handcent (was seeing 85%+ with default app).
A WORKAROUND HAS BEEN DISCOVERED. If your phone has been draining extremely fast under normal use (and you text) then this fix will likely help you! The quick explanation is that whenever you send a text, the Dialer is putting a lock on the phone preventing it from sleeping. This drains your phone extremely fast and also causes it to charge very slowly. Replacing the internal messaging app with a 3rd party SMS app from the market will workaround the issue. Look at the bottom of this post for more details, or continue reading if you want to see how we discovered the problem.
PLEASE READ THE FAQ AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR PROBLEMS.
Update: SarahKS (Sprint admin on the forums) just made a post on page 16 of this thread: "That said, I was told that they've identified the problem with the messaging client which prevents it from sleeping after its run. This is on the fix list for an upcoming MR.
That's all I know at this point, but as soon as I receive the details about tthe MR I will pass them on."
My friend and I both purchased Heros and we are both seeing pretty poor battery life. Using a couple of different things we believe we have figured out where the problem lies, but we are unsure how to fix it!
Here's what we know:
Menu < Settings < About Phone < Status < Awake Time
Both of ours have an awake time of 100%. According to other Android users, the lower this number is the better your battery life. So basically this is saying that even when the phone is off, it's not asleep. It is fully awake 100% of the time. Up time should not be the same as awake time.
Using an app called Spare Parts (Spare Parts) you can dig a little deeper.
Spare Parts < Battery History < Partial Wake Usage < Since Last Unplugged.
My phone is showing that the dialer has a wake lock for 16h. This appears to mean that the phone can't sleep because the dialer has locked it.
You can also check under "Other Usage." I have "Running", "Screen on", and "Phone on." Running says:
Time spent without sleeping: 16 hours (100%).
PowerManager | Android Developers
Quote:Originally Posted by Android Developers
PARTIAL_WAKE_LOCK
Wake lock that ensures that the CPU is running. The screen might not be on.
*If you hold a partial wakelock, the CPU will continue to run, irrespective of any timers and even after the user presses the power button. In all other wakelocks, the CPU will run, but the user can still put the device to sleep using the power button.
So now the problem is how do we fix it?
UPDATE ON PROGRESS:
**SKIP THIS -- A BETTER WORKAROUND HAS BEEN DISCOVERED. NO NEED TO KILL THE PHONE APP.**
I have made some progress! I downloaded a program from the market that was simply called Task Manager. I previously had checked out TasKiller and TaskControl but neither saw the dialer. I opened Task Manager and clicked on "Phone" and got "This task is not exported. don't switch or stop it." Well I stopped it anyways. Instantly after hitting my power button I began to see a time difference between Up Time and Awake Time (5 minute time difference now).
I was also able to call my phone and text it! After doing so "Phone" showed back up in Task Manager however it is still sleeping properly. I'm not sure what else this is effecting yet or if resetting the phone causes it to mess up again.
UPDATE 2:
So I had to get some sleep last night. I will be doing lots of testing throughout the day. My phone slept about 7 hours through the night. I only had a 1% drop in battery life during the night! And I did receive a text this morning. The only thing I know for sure so far is that sending a text causes it to stop sleeping again. I will keep this thread updated as I run some tests today.
UPDATE 3:
So we have determined exactly when it happens. We tried all of the following:
receiving e-mail
checking e-mail
browsing the web
loading google maps and locking location
receiving text
reading text
making a phone call
receiving a phone call
Every single one allows the unit to go back to sleep without any issues. There are two things that prevent it from sleeping every time:
send a text
Turning the phone on with no activity
So sending a text is obvious. Every single time we sent a text, the phone would stop sleeping. Receiving a text is fine. What i mean by turning the phone on with no activity is if I turn the phone on and just let it boot up and disable the screen on it's own and never send or receive a text, it will stay awake even though the screen is off. The phone ends up turning the screen off before it actually boots 100%. Once I turn the phone back on and actually look at my home screen (after it's done booting) and then turn it off again, it will sleep properly.
I'll post more as we figure out more.
WORKAROUND FOUND:
Quick recap if you didn't read above: a bug has been found in the HTC sms app. For some reason when you SEND a text message it puts a lock on the dialer app. This lock prevents the phone from ever going to sleep, even when the screen is off. This is causing a HUGE drain on battery life because the CPU is still awake. The current workaround is to disable the internal sms app and use one of the free ones from the market instead. Thanks to mobilehavoc for testing out a new sms app and realizing that it didn't create the lock.
The current two recommendations are ChompSMS and HandCent. It is has been confirmed by multiple users (mobilehavoc, freshlyill, spork27, and myself) that the phone is sleeping properly if you don't use the internal messaging client (and of course assuming you don't have a different issue than described here!).
Between the two apps my personal recommendation is HandCent. It has a huge number of tweaks and can give you the same look and feel as the internal app.
FAQ:
Q) I killed the messages / dialer / phone using a task manager but my phone still isn't sleeping?
A) Killing the app is not necessary anymore. That was a temporary fix while I was working on figuring out exactly what caused the lock. All you need to do is use a 3rd party messaging app and stop using the internal app.
Q) I'm using a 3rd party app but now both the internal app and the 3rd party app are telling me I have a new message?
A) You need to disable notification from the internal app. All Programs < Messages < Menu < Settings < Uncheck auto-retrieve & uncheck Notifications.
Q) I followed all of your directions but my phone still isn't going to sleep?
A) It's possible that another app you have is preventing the phone from sleeping. You need to restore and start over.
1) Restore the phone to factory settings (Settings > Security > Factory data reset)
2) After the phone restores, boot it all the way up. Turn the phone all the way off and then boot it up again.
3) After the phone boots all the way, wake the phone up and put it to sleep a couple of times, then leave it asleep and wait 5 minutes. Check your awake/sleep time.
*For this to work then you should not have installed any apps after the restore, and do not send any texts. This rules out ALL issues of other apps you have installed preventing it from sleeping.
Q) How do I know if my phone is sleeping?
A) When your screen is actually turned off, there's no way for to know. However you can check your timer at: Settings < About Phone < Status < Awake Time. Pull it up and then put your phone to sleep. Wait 1 minute and then wake it up. If your awake time has counted by more than 5-10 seconds then your phone isn't sleeping. Also the % should be less than 100%. The lower the better. You can reset the timers by powering the phone off and on again.
Q) I don't even text, will this fix my phone?
A) Nope
Q) I have tried everything and my phone still won't sleep?
A) You are doing something wrong. Restore your phone and try again. It has been mentioned that possibly the pop-up notifications from handcent and/or advanced task killer free are causing the phone to not sleep.
Q) Why does it take so long to charge my phone?
A) Your phone should charge to full in about 3 hours when plugged in to AC (the wall). If you try charging through USB on a computer then you are actually in trickle charge and it will take much longer. HTC recommends that if you are below 10% that you don't even try and USB charge. This is to help preserve battery life for people that sync their phones a lot.
I never had the problem with my phone not going to sleep. I still have poor battery life though. It's been lasting about 8 hours with not much use. I have handcent installed but it didn't make a difference.
I think there may be other issues besides the sms issue.
Honestly dont think that number means anything, my friends phone shows 100 % as does mine but he gets near twice the usage compared to me , there is some other issue causing this problem for, HTC is aware of this problem and should have a fix soon I hope
Ok, so I followed the steps and installed another SMS client. My status is now at 27% and the phone is charging quicker. I have now turned all the awesome stuff on my phone back on (WiFi, GPS etc) I thought that was the problem but thanks to the thread I'm all set.
The only thing that bothers me is: How does a company like HTC along with Sprint ETC send out a phone with such a horrible flaw? No one thought to use the thing for a week during R&D and said, "Gee whiz Bob I cant get from the car to the parking lot without this thing using half the battery."
...Just a thought
Worked for me MrNiceGuy!! Thanks.
The person above that was bashing you as if you were the one responsible for bug should be grateful your trying to help. I know i am GRATEFUL! Might phone might actually last an entire day!
ok, i just tested visual voice mail. It still appears in the notification area and i click and hit play then delete. After this i sleeped my phone and took note of my Awake time, and it had not gone up while i was in the shower.... so this work around seems to be fine to me.
I'm using handcent. Now, I'm no longer recieving texts. I set defaults and rebooted. What do I do now?
Mine quit receiving txts yesterday with Handcent. I opened up the default Messages app and sent a text. Suddenly I had about 20 txts come in at once. Battery usage starting creeping up (because I used default app), but my battery lasted longer than it really ever has, almost till 10pm.
Update: The reason I quit receiving SMS messages was because I put my phone on EVDO only, which stops incoming SMS and calls. LOL, why is there such a setting!?!?!? Also, after using the phone in Sprint Only (network) and continuing to use Handcent and not the default SMS application, my phone has had really good battery life. I haven't used it as much (other apps) so I am not quite sure what the reason behind my good battery life is, but I'm digging it!
Beats me what the right thing is to do, other than wait for a fix.
Last edited by dcdttu; October 21st, 2009 at 06:17 PM.
Mine quit receiving txts yesterday with Handcent. I opened up the default Messages app and sent a text. Suddenly I had about 20 txts come in at once. Battery usage starting creeping up (because I used default app), but my battery lasted longer than it really ever has, almost till 10pm.
Beats me what the right thing is to do, other than wait for a fix.
I just tested my Hero Handcent config using Google Voice's SMS. Handcent wakes my phone, displays the message, and triggers audio and visual notices. Four messages were received in 27, 24, 30, and 21 seconds respectively.
I'd recommend checking your Handcent settings. It really is a sweet app and worth slogging though a few menus, even without needing the battery fix. Did you head to the manage apps screen and discard the default app's data?
I just did it and works sooo much better. Got a question regarding geting text messages. Can u set iy up so when the phone is in sleep mode and u get a text message the screen will light up? Right now it beeps and just the little green light will blink when I get a new text. Then I have to turn the phone back on and go into my messages to get my text. Just wondering if there is anyway to set it up that the screen will automaticly open when u recieve a new text.
I just did it and works sooo much better. Got a question regarding geting text messages. Can u set iy up so when the phone is in sleep mode and u get a text message the screen will light up? Right now it beeps and just the little green light will blink when I get a new text. Then I have to turn the phone back on and go into my messages to get my text. Just wondering if there is anyway to set it up that the screen will automaticly open when u recieve a new text.
Thanks
(In HandCent App)
I believe if you scroll down in Handcent's main setting menu, the "enable popup" checkbox is what controls whether the screen turns on upon receipt.
Glad it works for you... lemme know if you break the fix so i can try and isolate exactly what breaks it
Mrniceguy...well I don't know what the heck I did. So here I go.
I was @80% uptime, I did the SMS trick and went down to 60%. I then read about the Locale stuff and disabled it. Before I disabled it I was at 57%. After a day I was at 60%. So now I re-enabled Locale (since I love it so much), and went down to 57%.
I had Kaoler Clock running for my morning wakeup. The past 2 days it messed up a little bit then force closed. So I uninstalled it, then I did something in my calendar which caused my phone to hang...
I did a reboot. As it was rebooting, I didnt touch anything. Up it came and in I went to taskiller. I killed NFL, Sprint TV, Messages and let my phone sit for 2 hours. I put it to sleep twice before I put it down.
I am now at 30% with Locale running and GPS on. Odd...I really can't figure this one out. I am good with 30% though
Thanks Jeadly, Anther question is that when I get a voicemail I also get a text message saying that I have a voicemail. Is there a setting to remove that? I'm sure I'll have ALOT more questiona about this phone...
The screen just lights up without it beeping. Is there a way u can do both??? Don't understand why it won't do both
Last edited by Putzy; October 21st, 2009 at 03:02 PM.
WOW i had this mod all day now, and its been 5 hours since i turned it on and i am at 60%, yesterday at this time i was at more like 40% still crappy but better than before
I am so frustrated. I have rebooted and been to a store after long convo's with CS. I switched to handcent, followed the directions, and now can send SMS messages, but cannot recieve them. I am really dissatisfied and confused. HELP! Please?
If you don't send a text message the message app never turns on and you won't experience the battery loss. This is the first day I have actually gone without have to re-charge my battery at least once. Although I did notice that when using ChompSMS once I send a message the message app turns back on. I think I am going to try the Handcent, as the ChompSMS still utilizes the built in SMS service and I have to go into Taskiller to kill that service after I send a text. Anyone know if Handcent also uses the built in SMS to send the messages?
My message app runs the second I reboot my phone... no message widget or anything message related is loading, so I don't understand.
I think I just figured this out: Go into the application management of the phone, under settings... Make sure you have cleared ALL data, defaults, etc., from the default "messaging" application... then reboot. Remember, not JUST the default application for TXT settings, but the actual data stored in the application.
Once I did this, rebooted, my phone now appears to sleep properly....
My message app runs the second I reboot my phone... no message widget or anything message related is loading, so I don't understand.
It probably still sees itself as the default app. You should be able to clear that by going. Menu > Settings > Applications > Manage Applications > Messages > Clear Defaults. That should stop it from launching when you reboot.
__________________ You can get blood from a stone, you just have to throw it hard enough.
It probably still sees itself as the default app. You should be able to clear that by going. Menu > Settings > Applications > Manage Applications > Messages > Clear Defaults. That should stop it from launching when you reboot.
Okay, one day after switching to Handcent (and removing locale) and my improvements were marked. Instead of complaining and 10% battery by noon I still had 23% left last night when I went to bed. I believe it was about 13 hours; also I ran Waze to and from work and loaded a lot of web pages. I'm fully convinced I've applied "The Fix".
That said, the "Messages" process still runs when I boot and I do not kill it. I did go into Manage Applications and clear Defaults as well as Data. Reboot. Then I opened a contact, selected Handcent as my default SMS app. Rebooted to be safe...
I do receive incoming SMS and everything is peachy. Here are the settings I have in my Handcent app:
SMS Receive Setting
Enable popup: True
Popup settings: Screen on for popup: True
Notifications: True
I too tried the SMS fix, no luck… still running at 100%.
Then I reset my Hero to factory defaults and tried the SMS fix again. That worked until I setup my Exchange Account in the built in Email client (NOT Gmail client). So it is the built in Email client that causes the phone to stay awake 100% of the time too.
Therefore, I reset my Hero again... Installed HandCent to fix the SMS issue. I then installed the TouchDown trial (5 days only) and setup my Exchange account and all is working well. My phone now reports between 30% and 40% awake, which is tons better than 100%. However, I still haven't made it thru a typical 16 hour day without having to charge the phone on the ride home from work. But at least I am not having to charge it at work any more. Part of the problem for me, might be that I get terrible reception in my office so the phone frequently switches between the Sprint netowrk and roaming.
Finally, I have noticed that the awake time percent will creep up around 80%+ from time to time, but a power cycle fixes that. So I am pretty sure that there is yet another app causing the phone to stay awake. If I find it, I will post my discovery or at least try to update this post. If I can figure out how to do that. ;-)
mine stays at 100% wake time too. I have tried everything except a master rest. I had to manually enter all my numbers and for some reason it wont sync with my computer. sometimes it wont read my sd card either. I also had an 8gb carb in and i put the factory one in and still no sleepy.
have tried the fix probably 20 times. have also tried master reset about the same amount. still says 100% and battery life sucks. Just swapped for a new one last night as my earpiece speaker was crackly. Same with new, cannot get the workaround to fix it. any other advice?
By the way, when I swapped phones i got the "updated" phone with the "with google" on the batt cover. The best buy reps really dont know what they are talking about. He touted the difference that they redid a whole bunch of the programs and such in the "newer model" and that the battery life problem is fixed in the new model. And batt life still sucks!!!!!!!!
Last edited by asylumcycle; October 22nd, 2009 at 01:00 PM.
Reason: add on
I too tried the SMS fix, no luck… still running at 100%.
Then I reset my Hero to factory defaults and tried the SMS fix again. That worked until I setup my Exchange Account in the built in Email client (NOT Gmail client). So it is the built in Email client that causes the phone to stay awake 100% of the time too.
I have a 'non' Google version of the phone, did the Handcent fix and am running Exchange and the HTC (not Google) e-mail client and my phone sleeps perfectly (10 - 20%). The e-mail app, at least for me, isn't the problem. Me thinks you have something else awry.
update: Just got back from sprint store. One of the techs looked at it(he has the phone himself). He said he tried everything he could possibly try and could not get it to go away from 100%. Kept avoiding my questions at first about "the fix". Then he said he even tried that and still wouldnt work right. showed me his phone wich he said he plays with all day long and it was only awake 7% of the time, and gets over a full day battery life. He said even though its already my second phone it must be defective and to go swap out with another one at best buy. said he hasnt had one he couldnt fix yet till mine. Mine is dead within 4-5 hours. He even gave me a brand new battery. So off I go tonight to swap for my 3rd HERO in a week and a half.
I have a 'non' Google version of the phone, did the Handcent fix and am running Exchange and the HTC (not Google) e-mail client and my phone sleeps perfectly (10 - 20%). The e-mail app, at least for me, isn't the problem. Me thinks you have something else awry.
It is possible. However, the only thing I configured after installing Handcent, was the email client (not Gmail) with my Exchange account and the phone immediately stopped sleeping. You can imagine my surprise after going thru a phone reset and downloading, installing and testing Handcent to make sure it worked, just to be back in the same 100% awake time boat after configuring my Exchange account on the phone. I don't doubt that you aren't experiencing something different than I, I just find it a bit fishy. ;-)
there is definitely more than one situation that cause the phone to stay awake. the "fix" has helped keep awake time low but after a while it stops sleeping and the only solution is a soft reset.
IK give up on this , nothing works at all , phone still at 100 % no matter what I do , now have deleted Handcet and I am using the factory message program , makes no difference in battery life so might as well use what the phone came with
IK give up on this , nothing works at all , phone still at 100 % no matter what I do , now have deleted Handcet and I am using the factory message program , makes no difference in battery life so might as well use what the phone came with
Have you done a factory reset on the phone? If not, that and a new SMS program should fix it. I know it's a major pain but if you want the phone to sleep....
I have my contacts saved on Googles server so that isn't an issue for me. I expect the Market would have something for backing up / restoring your contacts.
To hard reset:
Power the phone off
Hold the HOME, BACK, and POWER buttons at the same time
Follow the onscreen prompts to complete the hard reset and then reboot the phone.
Good luck.
Last edited by ItsDon; October 23rd, 2009 at 11:19 AM.
I am throwing in the towel on this one. I am keeping the phone of course....but done trying to figure this out. I am back up to 67% uptime. I unplugged at 5:30am this morning.
1 5 minute phone call
3 Facebook updates
2 tweets
11:00am 60% battery life. I don't know that seems kinda low..I will never make it to 10:00 tonight unless I charge it.
After reading through this and trying it it worked. Some people who are experiencing 100% wake time may want to un-plug the charging cable from the phone. I'm pretty sure the phone stays awake during charging sessions.
This, at least, was the case for me.
Unplug it and do the wake timer test.
Last edited by RanmaHan; October 23rd, 2009 at 04:54 PM.
mine stays at 100 % no matter what ? never even tried to do it with it plugged in , so frustrating !!! can somebody post a step by step procedure fore this so I can make sure i did not miss something ???
After reading through this and trying it it worked. Some people who are experiencing 100% wake time may want to un-plug the charging cable from the phone. I'm pretty sure the phone stays awake during charging sessions.
update: Just got back from sprint store. One of the techs looked at it(he has the phone himself). He said he tried everything he could possibly try and could not get it to go away from 100%. Kept avoiding my questions at first about "the fix". Then he said he even tried that and still wouldnt work right. showed me his phone wich he said he plays with all day long and it was only awake 7% of the time, and gets over a full day battery life. He said even though its already my second phone it must be defective and to go swap out with another one at best buy. said he hasnt had one he couldnt fix yet till mine. Mine is dead within 4-5 hours. He even gave me a brand new battery. So off I go tonight to swap for my 3rd HERO in a week and a half.
Sorry i have been MIA guys i had to make a trip to WA to pick up my daughter. Stayed up there at my moms for a few days...
I want to go on record saying Sprint Technicians are as worthless as a fart in a blizzard... I as a lowly sales rep Fixed more tech issues than our sprint tech store ever dreamed of doing. I had to fix a ringtone bug for the corporate ATS dept. I severly doubt its your phone dude... one thing I wanna say is make sure you have updated your vis voicemail app. I have a feeling/ information that may suggest this is a dual problem that the new vis voicemail helps with as well
Im back by the way and if anyone needs additional help
I can be reached at five-oh-three 732- 0420
txt plz
Brandon
The Sprint HTC Hero was announced on September 3rd, 2009, making Sprint the 2nd American mobile carrier to offer a phone based on Google's Android operating system. While HTC had already launched the Hero, making it available on European carrie... Read More
